At around 6:00 o'clock in the morning of March 4, 1987, as Remy was arranging her merchandise in her store on the

ground floor of her residence, a boy around fifteen years of age approached her, handed her a letter and then
hurriedly left. On the letter the author asked for 3,000 pesos and failure to provide such amount the threatened that
many will be hurt.

After reading the letter, Remy gave it to her husband. Emilio decided that (a) it should be presented secretly to the
authorities for entry in the police blotter, (b) their house should be guarded, and (c) the amount of P3,000 should be
given to anyone who could apprehend Helen Lepanto. The couple called the police.

Following the instructions in the aforesaid letter, Emilio instructed Remy to place the P3,000, which was in an
envelope, inside the garbage can at about 6:30 p.m. on March 6, 1987. Emilio told one of their sales-girls to inform
Pfc. Pimentel that the money had been placed in the garbage can and that he should guard it. However, the following
day, Pfc. Pimentel returned the money to them with the information that nobody went near the garbage can that night.
Emilio then told Remy to verify this information with the station commander. The latter confirmed that their
surveillance yielded negative results. When Emilio was informed of this, he asked Remy to go back to the station
commander and to retrieve the letter in order that it could be machine-copied in Masbate.

While the Sy couple was officially informed that the police had no leads, the latter in fact harbored some suspicions.

At around 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon of that same day, accused Roberto Gerolaga entered the store to buy a t-shirt
and some "spare parts." Having been Gerolaga's former employer, Remy felt free to tell him that she had received a
"threat." She begged him to help "apprehend or identify" Helen Lepanto.

Gerolaga, a 25-year-old minibus conductor who was also known as Edgar,17 testified that at around 7:00 o'clock in
the evening of March 20, 1987, he went for a walk at the pier, drank beer for about an hour at a little store and then
went to a street corner near the Sy residence. Because he saw no one approach the garbage can, Gerolaga went
back to the pier where there was a dance. He left the dance at midnight and went back to the bus terminal. Thence,
he returned to the corner to watch the Sy house.

It was then that he saw someone approach the garbage can. The man had a flashlight which he beamed at the
container. Then, as the stranger entered the gate of the Sy residence, Gerolaga followed silently. The person went to
the well, fetched water and washed his feet. From a distance of about three (3) meters, Gerolaga greeted him, "Good
evening, Commander Helen Lepanto." Surprised, the man turned his head and exclaimed, "Why do you know me?"
Gerolaga retorted that he knew him very well — that he was Antonio Sy. Immediately, Antonio pulled out a double-
bladed knife and tried to stab Gerolaga but the latter evaded the thrust. He caught Antonio's hand and held him in a
bear hug. Antonio kept on shouting, "I will really kill you, I will really kill you." Sensing that Antonio was strong,
Gerolaga shouted for help. He twisted Antonio's hands and pushed the one holding the weapon upon Antonio's chest
several times. When Gerolaga felt Antonio weakening, he released him, and the latter fell on the ground face down.

Gerolaga pulled out the bladed weapon and walked towards the gate. It was there that he met Efren Ativo. The latter
angrily demanded to know what he was doing inside the premises. Gerolaga told him that he had already "identified"
Helen Lepanto. Gerolaga asked Ativo for the P3,000, but Ativo was incredulous. So Gerolaga led Ativo to the well
near which Antonio lay dead. It was only then that Ativo went inside the house, took the money and handed it to
Gerolaga.

Gerolaga went to the bus terminal where he took off his bloodied shirt and pants and placed them together with the
weapon in a plastic bag. At 2:00 a.m., he boarded the San Agustin minibus which promptly departed. Arriving in Luy-
a, Gerolaga entrusted the plastic bag to a co-worker, Rafael Francisco, who alighted there, with instructions that the
clothing in the bag should be washed by Francisco's mother.18

After Gerolaga left, Ativo, still trembling, closed the gate. At 5:00 o'clock that morning, he knocked "at the stairs near
the door" of Remy's room. He informed her, her husband and his sister Norma, that Antonio Sy was dead. Emilio
instructed everyone not to touch the body until the authorities arrived. Ativo summoned Pfc. Pimentel but did not tell
him about Gerolaga's participation.